Kevin Cummings
War Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War
The Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) was an organization founded in June of 1967 by six veterans of the Vietnam War. At its peak, the organization had upwards of 20,000 members. The group was started as part of the antiwar movement that was going on at the time, and was meant to be for veterans of the war to band together in solidarity and express their opposition to the war. The group was able to make such an impact because of the fact that for one of the first times in America’s history, veterans of the war were speaking out against a war that was still going on, offering firsthand accounts and reasons why they believed that the war should end. Some of the major demonstrations they are known for are the Winter Soldier Investigation, where veterans publicly accounted for the atrocities and war crimes that they saw while they were doing their tours of duty in Vietnam; and a massive march on Washington D.C., where they joined with thousands of other protesters opposing the war. During these demonstrations, some of the members threw the medals they had received while in Vietnam on the steps of Congress as a symbol of the “worthlessness” of the war.
Since the VVAW was an organization made up of Vietnam veterans to protest the war, it was very controversial, and the opinion of it by veterans varied greatly. Opinions ranged from highly positive to incredibly negative. There were some people, like Frank Gutierrez, a rifleman in the 27th Infantry, 25th Division, who thought that the VVAW was “directly responsible for having put a stop to that war.” There were those that thought like Dr. Robert Ordonez, a Navy corpsman with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, who stated that “the anti-war movements… just made [him] sick;” and there were many like Pvt. David Hammond. with the 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry, who didn’t really “[pay] any attention to them at all.”
This is interesting in that it reflects the type of soldiers who were fighting the war. There were the men who wholeheartedly believed in the fight and signed up to go over there. There were the men who were drafted against their will and forced to fight. And there were those that were drafted, who were indifferent to the war in Vietnam and viewed their tour of duty as something to endure.
A common theme found among many of the veterans who were members of the VVAW was their frustration at the lack of understanding and acceptance from their families and from society as a whole. Upon returning from the war, many of the veterans came back and were faced with a society that was not only against the war, but against the soldiers who were fighting it. They were often rejected from jobs and called names like “baby killer”.
Contrary to the public perception during WWII that America was involved in a “good war,” veterans returning home from Vietnam faced a public that was vocally opposed to the war and those fighting it. Adding to the stress of returning home, soldiers in Vietnam served individual tours of duty, unlike counterparts in WWII that fought alongside the same unit for most of their tour. This left around 15 to 20 percent of veterans to face alone the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a psychological impact of viewing the atrocities of war which leaves sufferers with extreme stress, depression and anxiety.
As Marine Calixto Cabrera recalls, facing this animosity, “was a tough thing to deal with.” This frustration was part of the reason the organization was formed in the first place; to allow veterans to voice their opposition in the context of solidarity that a larger group provided, and to show the public that there were many veterans who were ashamed of the things they were forced to do while over there. It showed the public an perspective of the war not seen in society or the media at the time.
Opposition to U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts was not new. However, unlike protests to previous wars, the anti-war movement during the Vietnam conflict was the most widespread the country had seen. As historian Howard Zinn notes in his book A People's History of the United States, opposition to Vietnam was different in that it spread across almost all economic lines in society. Media coverage prior and during the early stages of the conflict was also largely controlled by the government. During the Vietnam war, journalists embedded with combat units began filing reports revealing mass casualties of both U.S. troops and Vietnamese civilians, which the government had previously sought to keep from the public. This helped to create a strong emotion of distrust and anger towards the government, and by default the troops that carried out the government’s orders.
Even though the VVAW was tens of thousands of members strong, there were a large number of veterans who felt as if they should not talk about their experience in the war. Partly because of the rejection and lack of understanding they found when they returned home, and probably partly due to the fact that many of them were forced to go.
The VVAW was able to harness these realities to help build membership by giving veterans a place to feel welcomed and accepted. Beyond simply organizing protests and opposition to the war, the VVAW was also involved in fighting for the rights of veterans. The organization was involved in lobbying efforts for better care and access for veterans at Dept. of Veterans Affairs clinics. In addition members and leadership lobbied the government to improve educational access for returning veterans and to help create jobs programs. Collectively, this helped improve perceptions of the organization both inside and outside of the military.
Of all the protests and other demonstrations that the VVAW did to oppose the war on the home front, two major event stand out: One, a major march in Washington D.C., made famous by images of members throwing medals they had received while fighting in Vietnam onto the steps of Congress; the second, an event called the Winter Soldier Investigation in which veterans held public testimonies in Detroit to account for the atrocities they had witnessed in Vietnam in an attempt to garner public opposition to U.S. foreign policy.
The march on Washington D.C., officially called Dewey Canyon III, took place from April 19-23 of 1971. During this event, many smaller demonstrations of frustration and violence took place. The members of the VVAW, along with thousands of other protesters, broke into Arlington Cemetery and placed wreaths around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; they marched on the Pentagon and attempted to symbolically turn themselves in as war criminals; and finally, as the pinnacle act of defiance against the war, they marched on the steps of Congress where some of the members of the VVAW threw the medals they had received while in Vietnam back onto the steps of Congress.
By throwing their medals back on the steps of Congress, the members of the VVAW were making a statement that they felt the medals they received were worthless because the war itself was pointless and so many people, on both sides, were killed for nothing. On a broader level, organizers of the event were hoping to draw a connection in the media between war crimes committed by individual soldiers and the foreign policies they they were carrying out. Outside of Detroit local media, the event was not widely publicized in the country at-large.
As can be imagined, people had largely differing opinions of this symbolic act. There were many who thought it was a courageous act that showed the government that the veterans would no longer stand for the war, nor the atrocities that some were forced to carry out during the fighting. There were many others too, like Lt. Col. Patrick Curry, with the ⅕ Cavalry, 1st Cav. Division, who thought that “[the VVAW] were degrading and denigrating the thing that I had chosen to spend my life doing.”
Largely, it seems that individual veteran opinion of the VVAW and its actions depend on three variables: how the soldier internalized their role and place in the military, how much of a connection they felt to their fellow soldiers, and their personal political leanings.
The other major event organized by the VVAW was called the Winter Soldier Investigation, which took place in Detroit, Mi. from January 31 through February 2 of 1971. In this media event, members of the VVAW publicly accounted for atrocities and war crimes that they had committed and witnessed from other soldiers while on their tours of duty in Vietnam.
The idea was to show that the policies of the military in Vietnam were directly correlated with these acts of war crimes and that it was a widespread problem that stemmed not just from the rank-and-file soldiers, but from the command as well.
Even though the event was not widely covered at the time, the purpose of publicly broadcasting these soldiers’ testimonies was to show that there was a large disparity between what the media coverage of the war was showing and what was actually going on in Vietnam. In their testimonies of the horrors they had witnessed, they accounted for such acts as “picking out houses in friendly villages and calling in artillery strikes as games,” as is stated by a member of the First Battalion, First Marines from the audio record of the Winter Soldier Investigation tapes.
These two events organized by the VVAW were major landmarks in the antiwar movement at the time, aimed to show the public what the war in Vietnam was really like and to publicly show opposition to its continuance.
Overall, it is clear to see that the way veterans viewed the VVAW and its actions can be linked to their involvement in the war. The things they saw, the combat they were involved in, and the people close to them that they lost shaped the memories that they have about the war; and the way in which they internalized these memories shaped the way that they outwardly viewed and reacted to the actions of the VVAW.
Almost all of the veterans that came back had horror stories to tell about the things they witnessed while in Vietnam. It is the way in which the veterans internalized these memories that shaped the way they viewed the VVAW.
For some, they saw what they were doing as a duty to their country. For these people, they had a very negative view of the VVAW. They saw what the VVAW was doing as treasonous and unpatriotic. For others who shared the same view of the VVAW, it was not necessarily the duty they felt towards their country that shaped this opinion, but rather that they had fought hard and had seen their fellow comrades dies for the cause. For these people, their negative view of the VVAW was based more on the fact that they saw it as disrespectful to those who had died.
The same memories however could produce a positive view of the VVAW as well. These men had witnessed terrible atrocities, and had seen men die, but they thought what the VVAW was doing was a good thing because they wanted to see the war come to an end. As VVAW member Anthony Goodrich, with the USMC, summarizes it, “My friends [were] still there. They’re still getting blown up.”
Another thing that is important to note while looking at the way the war shaped the psychology of the men in the VVAW, is that they were young. Many of them were drafted after high school, in their late teens and early twenties. To put someone through such a traumatic event at such an early age will create lasting and traumatic impressions, especially since most of these men had never had to witness or go through something that involved killing, being shot at, and seeing the ones close to them being killed.
Because the men were taken out of their normal environment, it created a strong bond among the men while they were fighting in Vietnam. They had to completely rely on their fellow soldiers in order to survive, so when they witnessed one of them being killed it was a very hard thing to deal with mentally and emotionally. The way in which they did deal with it would later go on to shape the way that they looked at the VVAW. Some who internalized the bond between the soldiers and the witness of their deaths would see what the VVAW was doing as disrespectful; while others would see it as their duty to help stop the war so that no more people would die as their friends had. Also, when the soldiers returned home, they were largely rejected, misunderstood and alienated from society. For some, they saw the VVAW as an opportunity for camaraderie and solidarity. It was an organization were they could feel safe to voice their opinions and memories of the war among other people who understood how they felt and what they were dealing with.
Whether one’s opinions of the VVAW and its actions are positive or negative, it is clear that the memory of what they did has a lasting impact on our society today. When the VVAW was started, it was one of the first times in America’s history that there had been such a large and vocal group of veterans opposing a war that the country was still currently involved in. The importance of this, as Janice Carney, a battalion mail clerk and courier with the 39th Transportation Battalion, puts it, is “that veterans have got to speak in the public and tell what’s really going on in these wars, especially letting the congressmen and the politicians know what’s really going over there.”
While the main goal of the VVAW was to give veterans returning from Vietnam a place to voice their opposition and to fight for veteran rights, the impact of the organization has not been confined to this single conflict. After the conflict in Vietnam, some veterans began to protest and opposition to military engagements openly, including during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.
During the time of the Vietnam war, and today, when soldiers returned home they often suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and were misunderstood by the society that they came back to. The formation of the VVAW, besides just protesting the war, also helped bring light to the situations of veterans returning from war. Since then, society treats veterans very differently than it did then. Veterans are no longer called “murderers” and “baby killers” upon returning, and even most people that are against war still have a mentality of “hate the war, not the soldier.”
The treatment of soldiers and the memory of what the VVAW did are just as important today as they were during the Vietnam War. America is still involved in a long lasting war halfway across the globe in Afghanistan. It is important to keep the memory of the VVAW and their actions in mind. As Carney puts it, “I think it’s a moral responsibility [to speak out] that after what I saw in Vietnam and my knowledge of the history of the war, for me to sit back and what I see or perceive as history repeating itself, making the same mistakes.”
The VVAW, with its tens of thousands of members at the time during the Vietnam War, was an organization started to give veterans a platform and a voice to speak their opposition towards the war. It opened up the anti-war movement in the United States, leaving lasting impact on society at the time in the way that is shown light on the atrocities that were being committed, the disparity between popular media coverage of the war and what was really going on, and it shaped a new way that society treats veterans when they return from war. This is an impact that has, and will continue to last in our nation’s memory.
Works Cited:
American Psychiatric Association Tapes, April 1972, 01 April 1972, Jon Bjornson Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1670AU2234>.
Interview with Anthony Goodrich, 11 April 2002, Anthony Goodrich Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0131>.
Interview with Calixto Cabrera, No Date, Calixto Cabrera Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0424>.
Interview with David Hammond, 02 May 2006, Dave Hammond Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0517>.
Interview with Frances Shea Buckley, 08 August 2005, Frances T. Shea Buckley Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0438>.
Interview with Frank Gutierrez, 24 January 2001, Frank Gutierrez Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0078>.
Interview with Gary Noller, 16 August 2005, Gary L. Noller Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0440>.
Interview with Jack O'Neil, 16 September 2002, Jack O'Neil Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0147>.
Interview with Janice J. Carney, 24 May 2005, Janice J. Carney Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0426>.
Interview with John Hubenthal, 15 December 2005, John Hubenthal Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0504>.
Interview with M. Thomas Powers, 02 June 2004, Milton Thomas Powers Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0402>.
Interview with Patrick Curry, 15 July 2005, Patrick Curry Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0434>.
Interview with Philip Watson, 23 April 2001, Philip Watson Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0165>.
Interview with Robert Devereux Slingluff, 09 December 2003, Robert Devereux Slingluff Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0326>.
Interview with Robert Ordonez, 22 March 2006, Robert Ordonez Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0521>.
Interview With Timothy Vail, 06 October 2005, Timothy P. Vail Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0445>.
Interview with William Culotta, 03 February 2006, William Culotta Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=OH0518>.
John Kerry's Statement Representing Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) Before Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 22 1971, 22 April 1971, Jon Bjornson Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=1670AU2233>.
The Winter Soldier Investigation February 19, 1971., 16 May 1971, J. C. Gathings Collection, The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University. Accessed 7 May. 2013. <http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/virtualarchive/items.php?item=425AU0624>.
Zinn, Howard. People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present. Harpercollins, 2005.